The Black Cats have tabled offers for new recruits this week, with sporting director Lee Congerton hoping to negotiate a cash-plus-player deal for Fiorentina’s Marcos Alonso – who has indicated his desire to return to Wearside if Sunderland can reach an agreement.

He has also registered Sunderland’s interest in defender Kurt Zouma – who has started pre-season with parent club Chelsea – but Astori is an intriguing alternative option for the Cats.

Congerton has been offered the Italy defender, who has been linked with Everton, Manchester United and – most bizarrely – Leeds in recent weeks. The club have asked to be kept informed about the 28-year-old, who has indicated a willingness to move to England if a deal can be brokered.

Sunderland are desperate to strengthen their defensive options and saw Swansea defender Williams – who has subsequently signed a new deal at the Liberty Stadium – as a ‘statement’ capture who could have provided a leadership role within the squad.

The Cats are perilously thin on the ground when it comes to defender options, with John O’Shea and Wes Brown established as the first-choice partnership that carried Sunderland over the line last term.

Mo Diakite, who failed to settle after joining from Lazio, is available and Sunderland want to include him in the deal to take Alonso to the Stadium of Light. It is proving a delicate balancing act for Congerton this summer with Sunderland’s obvious need for new recruits offset by Ellis Short’s desire for the club to excavate value-for-money signings after being saddled with too many poor recruits of late.

Sunderland were quick out of the blocks to secure Jordi Gomez, Billy Jones and Costel Pantilimon but they remain desperate to broker deals for the sort of high-calibre recruits that can lift them away from the trouble they have been in over the past two seasons.

A striker is a must and Fabio Borini is high on their list, but the Liverpool striker’s availability has been affected by the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona. It may now be the end of the pre-season before the Reds decide whether he has a future at Anfield and Sunderland need new players before then. Similarly they need a creative force in the engine room and still have no left-back.

Outgoings remain on the agenda too, with Alfred N’Diaye edging closer to departing after Real Betis made a move for the Sunderland outcast. Ignacio Scocco looks set to return to Newell’s after they tabled an offer in excess of £2 million while Connor Wickham’s future is uncertain.